Mowing City Slicker needs eduction on taking care of land

[radar026]

I really think newbury has the right idea with an atv mower. Lowest cost till you know more about the land. It will mow the rough ground/high grass/small brush (the second picture is much too rough too mow with a ztr at any favorable speed IMHO).

Wait on the tractor until you are more certain you need one.

See I never even considered this option which may be the best first purchase to get my feet (or actually hands) dirty. I will have to research to see if the little 80cc 4-wheeler can pull the mower. Plus am I correct if I get a tractor down the road, whether it be a SCUT or other type would the ATV mower attachment then also attach to the tractor?

 

[jeff9366]

Research the transmission on potential ATV or Utility Vehicle purchases.

While a pulled ATV mower with it own engine will not be too much load, few ATVs nor Utility Vehicles are designed to PULL a load, with belt drive being the worst.

A few Utility Vehicles have HST transmissions, like tractors, which are designed to PULL.

LINK: http://www.kubota.com/product/UtilityVehicles/RTV500/RTV500.aspx

 

[newbury]

<snip>
Darlene
View attachment 507190 View attachment 507191
[back 40/pasture] [area that I need to mow]

That second pic looks to rough for anything short of a bush hog.

Yes you are very close haha. The property is 45" away from my house and currently I work part time as RN (swing shifts & weekends). I still have school aged kids so mowing is a chore when it needs to be done 1-2x's/week (like spring at home). The 2nd pic is after neighbor bush-hogged it last fall. Now it's tall, green, and laying over. Thick brush/weeds grows under the tall trees. I would like it clean it up once and try to maintain it for those (realistically infrequent) trips out there. Once I get it in shape I hope to plant some flowering tree's, that's when the dreaming will begin. lol.
There are 3 acres of woods on side of property loader could be helpful moving wood but I don't see that as a project now.

I might be making more work for myself than need be and that's where this forum is helping me open my eyes. Thank you for helping me make the best decision.

At this point you should focus on secure storage and get the neighbor to bush hog.
Did you mean The property is 45 inches away from my house
or
The property is 45 minutes away from my house
or
The property is 45 miles away from my house?

See I never even considered this option which may be the best first purchase to get my feet (or actually hands) dirty. I will have to research to see if the little 80cc 4-wheeler can pull the mower. Plus am I correct if I get a tractor down the road, whether it be a SCUT or other type would the ATV mower attachment then also attach to the tractor?

A scut could pull the mower attachment but I doubt an 80cc ATV could.

I still recommend planting trees and watching them grow, it's easier than to mow..

 

[radar026]

That second pic looks to rough for anything short of a bush hog.
Hmm that pic was shortly after the neighbor bush hogged. I let him keep what he cuts (from pasture) and he cut the 4 acres for me. The cattle are only on property about 6months/year.

Did you mean The property is 45 inches away from my house
or
The property is 45 minutes away from my house

sorry that was minutes



A scut could pull the mower attachment but I doubt an 80cc ATV could.

I still recommend planting trees and watching them grow, it's easier than to mow..

Yes absolutely but not "landscape designer" inclined. Hope to get some trees planted but need a good clearing and work it a bit to figure out what will go where.

 

[Rford]

I have about 100 acres of free rent, old pasture, that has grown up in locust and hedge that a friend let's me use as my own for hunting and playing. I've been slowly putting in food plots and clearing out areas for trees, NSWGs, clover patches, etc., and have cut trails through the brambles and thickets. It's my hobby so I don't want to get too much money invested in something that doesn't belong to me. Most of the equipment I've picked up after advertising on Craigslist what I was looking for and how much I wanted to pay. I had a MF 231 tractor and it was a good machine and the offer of $7000 seems fair to me for that tractor. It had a loader, which was handy. I now have an older Ford 2000 3 cyl diesel without a loader ($3000), it does a good job pulling 5 foot equipment ..a blade, a cultipacker, a tiller, a field cultivator, and a lightweight brush hog. It sounds like you'll be starting out slow with just a few acres and then maybe get more involved. I picked up a cheap $1500 gas golf cart to get around in lieu of an ATV and it works for me to putter around the place. I put receiver hitches front and rear of the cart with a rear hauler and a front electric spreader. I can load seed on the pack and spread it in the front. Plastic buckets where the golf bags go can hold a lot of tools. I've gathered up acorns every year and some persimmon seeds this year and planted those for fun. Food plots and burning off old fescue (pasture burning was pretty scary at first and I was afraid I'd burn up the whole section, but its fun now) to let the weeds grow for the wildlife, rounds out the year. The trees I cut to open up areas are split for my son's fire place. The neighbors keep an eye out for thieves who'd be foolish to risk taking my stuff when there's lots better out there for the taking. I'd hate to lose what I have accumulated, but I have bought wisely and while it all works it isn't new by far. I've been opportunistic when something quite used pops up for sale that I need at a good price I'll buy it rather than buy new or slightly used. Part of the fun is fixing stuff on a rainy day. I have a good shed.

There are too many deer, turkey, and racoons to have any sort of vegetable garden, but if a person was so inclined that would keep you busy.

 

[radar026]

I have about 100 acres of free rent, old pasture, that has grown up in locust and hedge that a friend let's me use as my own for hunting and playing. I've been slowly putting in food plots and clearing out areas for trees, NSWGs, clover patches, etc., and have cut trails through the brambles and thickets. It's my hobby so I don't want to get too much money invested in something that doesn't belong to me. Most of the equipment I've picked up after advertising on Craigslist what I was looking for and how much I wanted to pay. I had a MF 231 tractor and it was a good machine and the offer of $7000 seems fair to me for that tractor. It had a loader, which was handy. I now have an older Ford 2000 3 cyl diesel without a loader ($3000), it does a good job pulling 5 foot equipment ..a blade, a cultipacker, a tiller, a field cultivator, and a lightweight brush hog. It sounds like you'll be starting out slow with just a few acres and then maybe get more involved. I picked up a cheap $1500 gas golf cart to get around in lieu of an ATV and it works for me to putter around the place. I put receiver hitches front and rear of the cart with a rear hauler and a front electric spreader. I can load seed on the pack and spread it in the front. Plastic buckets where the golf bags go can hold a lot of tools. I've gathered up acorns every year and some persimmon seeds this year and planted those for fun. Food plots and burning off old fescue (pasture burning was pretty scary at first and I was afraid I'd burn up the whole section, but its fun now) to let the weeds grow for the wildlife, rounds out the year. The trees I cut to open up areas are split for my son's fire place. The neighbors keep an eye out for thieves who'd be foolish to risk taking my stuff when there's lots better out there for the taking. I'd hate to lose what I have accumulated, but I have bought wisely and while it all works it isn't new by far. I've been opportunistic when something quite used pops up for sale that I need at a good price I'll buy it rather than buy new or slightly used. Part of the fun is fixing stuff on a rainy day. I have a good shed.

There are too many deer, turkey, and racoons to have any sort of vegetable garden, but if a person was so inclined that would keep you busy.

I can tell by your post you really care about your hobby and while I don't hunt I love that I have acquired this land and want to work with it, care for it. My experience is house plants & small veggie garden and no idea what to do with a large parcel and literally starting at the bottom with my learning. You have mechanical knowledge to tinker on toys. I get to frustrated but now with you tube people post how to videos I might be willing to give it a try haha. Thanks for the tips & your reply.

 

[radar026]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I researched every one and summed it all up here in case it helps someone in the future.

Pay someone to bush-hog and then use ZTM to stay on top of mowing or maybe a cheaper 15hp rider mower and run it hard till it dies.
Pro: less work for me initially, very low financial investment if continue to have renter do grass. Giving someone a job.
Con: does not have a finished, manicured look, I want to get MY hands dirty and be involved. Renter may feel obligated to do it, since he is getting great deal on rental.
ZTM $2-7,000
Pro: fast, nice clean finish
Con: $$, frequency of mowing 3-4x's/month bc can't get tall, leaves lumpy grass, need to finish
Throw away 15HP rider mower for 500.00
Pro: cheaper
Con: longer to mow time, only used mowers @ this price, new 15+HP >$1000.00
Oldie but goodie Tractor with 12 ground clearance with a medium duty rotary cutter 25-35hp $5-15,000
Pro: less expensive, multiple uses, holds value.
Con: are these reliable, need tweaking each use, or start up easy?
Grow something on the property so I don't have to cut it.
Pro: improve environment, pretty, depending on choices all done.
Con: can be costly, may need maintenance, don't know what to put in.
Flail mower with duck foot flails: wow I learned another new tool after looking at a videos on this site. I like how it cuts low and mulches grass, then grass starts to regrow and it looks like lawn (or the fields the cows have been grazing in.) easy to walk through, we can set up a game of soccer or football.
Pro: it's perfect, will cut brush, tall weeds, safer than rotary cutter for debris launch
Con: need to have a tractor, about 500 or more than cutter, more maintenance.
ATV mower $1000-2500
Pro: make use of current inventory, works like a zero turn
Con: may be hard for me to pull start.
New SCUT/CUT 24-35hp $10-20k plus implements
Pro: versatility, ease of use, reliable
Con: most expensive, more than I need for now.

member posted suggestions:

MF 231 for $7k: I sent him email but no reply. Massey Ferguson 231 tractor

Kubota BX70 tractor: used one on CL $9800 has 9" clearance & 23HP, another poster suggested 12" clearance, & >25HP.

Ford 1520 or 1720: heres one on CL 1993 F-1520 w/60 MMM+ implements, 23HP, 1265 hrs $5500 Ford 152 HST Tractor and Mower, plus Equipment
Ford 1210, Only 16hp but with attachments great price. 725hrs
Compact Tractor

I can't believe my husband said why do you want to mow it, just leave it like has been for the last 10 years. I'm sure because it's new to me I want to get in there and clean it up, make it a gem. Since I don't live there full time I get it. However if I keep my costs down he won't object. I think I'm leaning towards a used oldie/goodie tractor with a flail mower. My main concern will be maintenance of these older tractors but that's a different thread.
Best of luck & health to you all.
Darlene

 

[countrybumpkin]

You could always hire someone to come in and " Bush hog " the areas you want cut now and then, that would give you a idea of what that process does. This would also give you time to look around a bit and get more understanding as to what is a alive and what you might want to purchase.

 

[jeff9366]

Most ATV mower engines have battery start.

 

[JK22]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I researched every one and summed it all up here in case it helps someone in the future.

Pay someone to bush-hog and then use ZTM to stay on top of mowing or maybe a cheaper 15hp rider mower and run it hard till it dies.
Pro: less work for me initially, very low financial investment if continue to have renter do grass. Giving someone a job.
Con: does not have a finished, manicured look, I want to get MY hands dirty and be involved. Renter may feel obligated to do it, since he is getting great deal on rental.
ZTM $2-7,000
Pro: fast, nice clean finish
Con: $$, frequency of mowing 3-4x's/month bc can't get tall, leaves lumpy grass, need to finish
Throw away 15HP rider mower for 500.00
Pro: cheaper
Con: longer to mow time, only used mowers @ this price, new 15+HP >$1000.00
Oldie but goodie Tractor with 12 ground clearance with a medium duty rotary cutter 25-35hp $5-15,000
Pro: less expensive, multiple uses, holds value.
Con: are these reliable, need tweaking each use, or start up easy?
Grow something on the property so I don't have to cut it.
Pro: improve environment, pretty, depending on choices all done.
Con: can be costly, may need maintenance, don't know what to put in.
Flail mower with duck foot flails: wow I learned another new tool after looking at a videos on this site. I like how it cuts low and mulches grass, then grass starts to regrow and it looks like lawn (or the fields the cows have been grazing in.) easy to walk through, we can set up a game of soccer or football.
Pro: it's perfect, will cut brush, tall weeds, safer than rotary cutter for debris launch
Con: need to have a tractor, about 500 or more than cutter, more maintenance.
ATV mower $1000-2500
Pro: make use of current inventory, works like a zero turn
Con: may be hard for me to pull start.
New SCUT/CUT 24-35hp $10-20k plus implements
Pro: versatility, ease of use, reliable
Con: most expensive, more than I need for now.

member posted suggestions:

MF 231 for $7k: I sent him email but no reply. Massey Ferguson 231 tractor

Kubota BX70 tractor: used one on CL $9800 has 9" clearance & 23HP, another poster suggested 12" clearance, & >25HP.

Ford 1520 or 1720: heres one on CL 1993 F-1520 w/60 MMM+ implements, 23HP, 1265 hrs $5500 Ford 152 HST Tractor and Mower, plus Equipment
Ford 1210, Only 16hp but with attachments great price. 725hrs
Compact Tractor

I can't believe my husband said why do you want to mow it, just leave it like has been for the last 10 years. I'm sure because it's new to me I want to get in there and clean it up, make it a gem. Since I don't live there full time I get it. However if I keep my costs down he won't object. I think I'm leaning towards a used oldie/goodie tractor with a flail mower. My main concern will be maintenance of these older tractors but that's a different thread.
Best of luck & health to you all.
Darlene

I'm worried that if you don't like working on/tinkering with machines, you're not going to be happy. A used tractor will need TLC. I'm afraid anything used will just end up being a money pit for you. Buy a new riding lawn mower. It's all you need. Keep Stabil in the fuel... at all times. I used to mow my 4 acres of meadow with a John Deere D170 before moving to a small tractor. It sounds like this machine will be sitting for long periods of time and you haven't expressed a need for a tractor. The first time you try hooking up that flail mower to the 3point, I would bet you're ready to set it on fire or send it back wherever it came from. You have to want the capabilities of a tractor to tolerate the difficulties. If you just want to mow.... buy a machine that is just meant to mow, rather than a machine that can be adapted to mow.

 

[dnw64]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I researched every one and summed it all up here in case it helps someone in the future.

Well it sounds like you're very organized

Now you just need to evaluate what you want out of the property, assign weights to the pros/cons and make a decision.

Personally, based on what you've told us, at this point my advice would be to hire someone to do the currently needed rough mow. Then clean up any stuff left behind that would bugger up a lawn tractor. Get a cheap new lawn tractor and keep after it the best you can. If it gets away from you, hire the brush hogger back. At some point over the next few months/years you may decide that then is the time to do something else.

BTW, my advice is not what I would do. I'd probably buy that 1520 or something equivalent. All those accessories would come in very handy around a property like that. And it appears to have been very well taken care of - did you notice that all the implements are up off the ground on blocks? That person cares about their equipment.

 

[airbiscuit]

Now that we have a better idea about how you are thinking, something like this might work for you. You should go to a local tractor dealer and test drive a SCUT (Sub-Compact Utility Tractor). Then you will better understand why we think operating them is fun!

 

[DieselBound]

Best bit of advice I ever got (read it) was that one should live on the land for a full year before attempting to do anything substantial to it. I have 40 acres and I can tell you that what I now am doing and what I was thinking I was going to be doing 6 years ago (when I bought it) is vastly different. And funny, I was thinking I was going to go minimalist; my wife essentially told me in no uncertain terms that I was to get a tractor- our B7800 Kubota (used, with 748 hrs). Once you have machinery you're chained to it. It's both good and bad. You have to use it to justify having it (it'll make you work- my body is beat up pretty good from putting on over 1,100 hours on the B7800). There's maintenance. And then there's the occasional repairs. Most important thing of all is an understanding of one's time. If you're in a hurry you can get where you're looking to go much quicker. Downside is that you end up missing other things; and, when you "get there" you may find that that's not where you want to be!

Flexibility. I would suggest starting out low-key, getting, perhaps, that tow-behind ATV mower that someone else suggested. This will be an introduction. If it doesn't work then sell and try something else. You may, as a result of this experience, find that you don't care for mowing or that you don't think that maintaining open space is worth it.

I think that renting equipment is a great way to test waters. BUT, get out on the land and poke around; doing stuff physically will make you think a lot harder/better about what it is you want to do. I have spent MANY hours swinging a machete; it not only helped clear paths for my tractor, it helped clear my head (some people would dispute this).

 

[jmh1783]

I have a few odd comments to what has been presented so far. To the suggestion to get used equipment, a great idea if you are lucky and can deal with it. I've never been lucky with machinery. I know a guy who bought a Toyota pickup (the ones based on a car chasis) at 170K miles and ran it up over 300K. Me, I would have been left stranded at the side of the road the first week. In general also I don't have the skills or time to deal with breakdowns so I generally buy new. Your tolerance for this sort of thing is something you will have to measure yourself.

Using a zero turn (or riding lawn mower) on rough pasture isn't a great idea. Even if someone else brush cuts it for your, what is left is woody stubble that a normal mower isn't going to be very happy with. Furthuremore the rough part will rattle a residential mower apart. Funny story in my last home there was a pasture across the road. It rarely got used as pasture and the owner got it brush cut about once a year. Last spring I wake to the sounds of a mower, not a tractor from that direciton. He apparently hired some guy with a big zero turn mower. Within an hour the machine had fallen silent and he never returned.

One place I looked at last year when I was looking for some land was owned by a woman who had about 15 acres brush cut a couple times a year by a local farmer. The immediate acre or so around the house she did herself with a riding mower. Perhaps you might consider focusing your attention on just an acre or so for now and get the rest cut until you get a better feel for the direction you want to go.

Leaving anything expensive on site all the time when I'm not there, locked up or not, would make me nervous. I generally live in a safey area but I'm not sure I'd sleep well worrying about it. You have to assess your own tolerance for that. Even a shipping container can be broken into with enough time and no prying eyes.

Just my two cents. Best of luck to you with your new property.